


you take my troubles away

by shafferthefirst



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Angst, Comfort, F/M, Friendship, Nightmares, Post midseason finale, little bit of Academy!Fitzsimmons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-24
Updated: 2015-01-24
Packaged: 2018-03-08 21:38:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3224363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shafferthefirst/pseuds/shafferthefirst
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jemma has a nightmare and some things never change. </p><p>Post 2x10. No relation to POTP series.</p><p>Can be read as either romantic or platonic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	you take my troubles away

**Author's Note:**

> So I found this walkie talkie headcanon I came up with months ago while going through my blog last night, slept on it, started writing it before I even opened my eyes this morning and didn't stop until I had it all down. Hope y'all enjoy.
> 
> Title is from the song "You Take My Troubles Away" by Rachael Yamagata and Dan Wilson.

She woke with a start. Shaking, gasping, swollen eyes leaking tears down her cheeks, instinctively grabbing the small contraption on her bedside table.

 

It took her a moment to piece together the reality that it was just a nightmare. 

 

But in truth, it _wasn't_. 

 

Maybe not from the events of the nightmare itself, but Trip was still gone. And she couldn't stop him. 

 

Well, she _tried_ to stop him.

 

Just like she _tried_ to save her best friend's life by dragging him up ninety feet from their pod-turned-coffin on the ocean floor some time ago. And what good did that do?

 

She shook that thought away and tried to pull herself together, laying back down, closing her eyes, humming to herself, anything to distract her. Now was not the time to beat herself up for the damage she had done. That was strictly for every time she saw him. And Jemma wasn't one to break schedule.

 

Her own name took her by surprise. She jumped, realizing the source was in her clutches. 

 

Those nights at the Academy were so distant at that point she could have sworn they were memories from a past life. That night he presented her with them on her first birthday she celebrated with him as her friend shifted into her mind's focus. That night which turned into every night like a ritual and sometimes more. 

 

"I designed them myself," he had told her, somehow a happy medium between smugly and shyly.

 

She was speechless, unlike her roommate.

 

"You do know the walkie talkie was invented years ago, right Jimmy Neutron?" Valerie had sneered. 

 

"They are  _not_ walkie talkies," he corrected. "They're better. No static interference or distance limit. We could use them from any two locations in the world."

 

"So like a cell phone."

 

" _Not_ like a cell phone."

 

"But basically a cell phone." She chucked at his groan and nudged Jemma's shoulder in farewell as she slid out of the room. Giving her geeky baby roommate's equally geeky baby friend a hard time was one of her favorite past times.

 

Jemma, not the slightest bit phased by their squabble, peered up from the devices in her hands and smiled. "Ignore her. I love them."

 

"You do?"

 

"Of course," she inspected the back of one to read the engraving. "A self-powering source? Fitz, that's genius!"

 

"Yeah, didn't want to trouble you with having to replace the batteries every other week." 

 

"I wouldn't have minded; you know that. But nevertheless, genius indeed." 

 

He ducked his head and grinned, slightly bashful at her praise. "I figured we could use them to continue discussing projects after closing hour. And so you're not having to practically sleep walk back to your room in the late hours since my hall is closer to the lab."

 

She quickly recalled to the many times, just last week being the most recent, when she would stay at his place too late and too invested in their latest design and crash on him. He never once complained about walking her home across the campus or letting her take the bed when he was too tired himself and settled in the floor. 

 

Deeply touched, she pressed a gentle kiss to his cheek and hugged him. "Thank you." 

 

The talkies were put to good use immediately, but on most nights the 3 A.M. project talk faded to sleepily exchanging Doctor Who theories and rambling softly about how the universe came to be until they fell asleep.

 

That is, until her lifelong battle with nightmares resurfaced and she didn't even hesitate to buzz him when she pulled herself from it. It took a lot of trust to invite him in to her most vulnerable state; but he'd earned it. He replied almost instantly, listened attentively while she explained her situation, and slowly recited the elements of the periodic table barely above a whisper until she settled and drifted away once again. 

 

They kept this connection through the years: at the Academy, sometimes in their shared apartment at SciOps after they had separated for the night, and occasionally on the Bus, especially after the images flashing in her nightmares changed to him screaming while the wind roared in her ears.

 

It did, however, stop for nine of the longest days of her life (when her terrors were worse than they'd ever been and no one was on the other side of her device to sooth her) and by the time he could have at least attempted to, she was gone far away without contact or comfort.

 

So when the old talkie croaked out "J-Jemma?" by her side, she stared at it in disbelief. She realized that she must have unconsciously forgotten their current distance and buzzed him on pure instinct. 

 

"Fitz?" she risked after gathering herself.

 

"Yeah, yeah I'm...I'm here. Are y-you okay?"

 

She briefly considered telling him it was a mistake, she hit the button on accident and to go back to sleep, but she couldn't do it.

 

"I had a nightmare."

 

Silence. She fought back the urge to cry again. It was silly to think it they could go back to what they used to be. He was lost to her. When they found the words together, when they worked in near harmony again, when he held her so tightly, so close she could her his heartbeat over the walls crumbling around them, it was....it was all nothing. It was strategic, to protect his teammate. Nothing more. Nothi-

 

_"H-hydrogen."_

Jemma let out a sigh of relief that she felt like she had been holding in since she took the breath at the bottom of the sea.

 

_"He-Helium."_

 

Tears prickled her eyes as she slowly closed them once again. 

 

_"L...Lithium."_

She was wrong. Of course they could do this. They had changed, both of them, so much that the old Fitzsimmons didn't stand a chance at this point. 

 

" _Ber...Beryllium."_

Butthat did not mean Fitz and Simmons were damaged beyond repair. 

 

" _Boron_."

 

They would fix this they way they always did.

 

" _Carbon."_

Together _._

_"N-Nitrogen."_

_"_ Fitz?"

 

"Y-yeah?"

 

"Thank you."

 

"Always, Jemma." he cleared his throat and continued. " _Oxygen_.."

 

She mouthed his words in sync with his voice until she slipped back under, holding the walkie talkie to her chest so tightly that she had a small imprint in the morning, but it was the best sleep she had in months.


End file.
